24 March – I’ve changed the working title from “Escaping Well” to “Breaking Free.”

Simple plot, complex characters. That’s what we’re going for. I’d love to hear your comments: Which character is more fun? Who do you like more?

These two characters have a significant function in the story, but they don’t have a strong character arc, or an inner world.

Marcel

Marcel is the crusty chef and proprieter of Les Chat Reposant (The Resting Cat) a French restaurant in Sydney. He is tall and wiry, with curly, dark hair, pale skin and a small pot belly. His smooth-shaved face is wrinkled and his hands are wrestless and nervous, with nicotine stains on the fingers. He tells Em that smoking has ruined his sense of taste and smell, and as far as he knows, he’s serving up connerie, but he smokes hard anyway, and then asks Em if the food is any good. She says it was, and he just grunts. The best place to talk with him is after service out near the bins. Marcel draws heavily on cigarettes, mumbles to himself in a mixture of French and English and makes laconic, wry observations of the world around him. His language is liberally peppered with bad language, in both French and English. “You know what the problem is with trying to open a restaurant in Sydney?” he asks. Em expects him to gesture with his cigarette and say, “The broccoli,” or “The veal,” but instead he says “It’s the people.” He takes another deep draw, them squeezes his lips out flat like a trumpet player and blows out the smoke through his stained teeth. “One comes half way around the world and the problem is the same.” He rounds on her. “People let you down, the world over. Customers. Staff. And yourself.” He takes another drag. Em has no idea how old he is. Everyone older than her is just a fully-fledged adult. Marcel explains that he had a restaurant in France, but moved to Sydney and ran a food van for a while, but he’s only had his restaurant open for a few months, and good staff are so hard to find. Marcel is gruff, but a good boss. He appreciates a job well done, and will give curt, tight feedback when people make mistakes. He is very stressed, but he does not take it out on his staff. He takes it out on his cigarettes and on the pots, which are very clean when things are going badly with his business. He is accommodating of Em’s need for proper over-the-table income. He knows that he is relying on her too much at the end. (I’m drawing on Peter Spiliopoulos, who I worked with in my late teens as a concretor.)

Helen

Helen is Em’s Vietnamese housemate. She is tiny and wears oversized clothes. Helen is not her real name, but it’s her English name. She is studying second year Tourism at uni. She is histrionic and has strange personal taste in clothing, music and dance. (She’s a B-girl). Even in her own language, she was vague and ditsy, and it’s only worse now that she has to filter the world through English. Everything is a dance move, with slides and pops and robot arms, and she is mystified why English speakers don’t understand her b-slang. In particular, she gets prepositions wrong in common sayings. She gives some advice that another girl should “break down” with her boyfriend (instead of “break up”), but gets it right when she tells someone to “put out more.” Curiously, her French is pretty good, and she can talk with Marcel directly. Chat GPT gives me some pointers here at her word choices (See below.) I’m drawing on a Korean girl that I knew at an American school in Virginia back in the mid 1990s, but I forget her name. Joy Lee? Something Lee?

• “Chán như con gián” → “Bored like a cockroach.”
  • (She might say this when she means “I’m so bored.”)
• “Còn nước còn tát” → “As long as there’s water, keep bailing.”
  • (She means “Don’t give up,” but in English, it sounds like a literal boat emergency.)
• “Đi tàu suốt” → “Go on a train forever.”
  • (Vietnamese slang for having an upset stomach, but in English, it sounds like an existential crisis.)
• “Sập nguồn” → “The power is down.”
  • (Slang for feeling exhausted, but might be misinterpreted as an electrical issue.)
• “Nghèo rớt mồng tơi” → “So poor, I fall with Malabar spinach.”
  • (She means “completely broke,” but the vegetable reference would confuse people.)
• “Anh ấy đá cô ấy” (He kicked her) → “He kicked her off.”
  • (She means “He dumped her,” but it sounds violent.)
• “Xài chùa” (Using something for free) → “I use it in temple.”
  • (She means “I’m mooching,” but it sounds like a religious thing.)
• “Lên đồ” (Dress up) → “Go up clothes.”
  • (She means “Let’s dress up,” but it sounds weirdly vertical.)

Who is more fun for you? Marcel or Helen?